Hey everybody, welcome to another edition of The Gift of Gab! Today we are answering questions from the YouTube channel that you guys have written in, and some of the more common questions that I get asked a lot. Let's get started!
Gabby Answers Your Voiceover Questions - 9:38
Let's kind of jump right into it. Question: "Is Gabby Nistico my real name?" Yes of course it's my real name! First of all who the f*ck would make up the last name Nistico? What benefit would there be to this? Yes it's my real name. My mother's middle name is Gabrielle and so that's where my first name comes from. It is purely coincidental that, yes, I ended up in a career in voiceover and prior to that, broadcasting. When I was a kid I despised being called Gabby. I hated it. I hated it! Hated it, because I thought it was just, you know, kind of a teasing nickname and by the time I got into radio, I had to just sort of accept it, because of what I do for a living, so yeah, there you have it.
Question: "Where do I get the books that you feature on your videos and in your YouTube channel?
They are available on my website. You can go to GabrielleNistico.com and go to the shop tab and you can see all three of the books that I've written on the subject of voiceover, and you can also see the books that I recommend from other authors and if you go to my Beginners Steps to Success for Voiceover. Question: "Where do I find practice voiceover scripts?"
So in this video I talked about where to find scripts to practice voiceover, and I have been asked quite a few times since this video came out,"Isn't it illegal? These places that you're talking about being able to use copy/ find copy/ get copy/ is that copyright infringement? Is it intellectual property? Is there some way that people could get in trouble?" Okay, the answer to this question is really simple: you have to remember the first part of that video. It's practice - practice scripts, guys. There is nothing illegal about reading something in your own home in your pajamas and your fuzzy slippers to practice the art of voiceover acting. You're perfectly free to do that! There's no legality you have to be concerned with. Legality only happens when a you are profiting off of another person's intellectual property or anything that you don't own, really, so if you were taking those scripts and putting them into a product that you were then reselling, that's a big problem and that could get you into a bunch of trouble, potentially. You could get into trouble if you use them in a voiceover demo, but that's still pretty rare. There's a little bit of grey there, but for the most part, again I'm only talking about practice, that's it.
Question: So Keisha Rose Evans asked if I'm the mom from Bob's Burgers? Can somebody get me my Louise hat? Can I? No - it's just not flattering.
So yeah, am I the mom from Bob's Burgers? No. Do I want to grow up and be Louise Belcher? Absolutely! So there's that. Linda Belcher is - I don't know how I should feel about this - I should probably probably be slightly offended by this question because Linda Belcher is actually voiced by a man whose name is John Roberts. This guy - but yeah - if you're referring to my earlier, original Long Island accent from growing up as a kid, yeah I guess it does kind of sort of sound like Linda. I do her a bit about the house. I love her, she's great, kill the turkey, if you're a fan you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, John Roberts - he is this guy here, yeah he's a super talented voice actor. There's actually a really great video you can watch where he talks about the process of creating the character and what it's like to voice it.
Question: "What breed is the white one?"
Well if you're referring to this beastly majestic animal I call my dog, yeah, so this is Arya and she is a great pyrenees also known as a great pain in the ass. That is an actual breed, no she is not a white golden retriever, she's not! I've heard so many different iterations of what she might be. It is an actual breed of dog, related to the Burmese Mountain dog and the St. Bernard. This dog... get a cat, okay? If you want to do voiceover, do not get a great pyrenees, get a cat. They don't bark!
Question: People ask me all the time about podcasting and radio but lately it's been podcasting, right? So I really want to get into podcasting and I want to start a podcast and is that gonna help me with voiceover? Is that gonna help me get voiceover work?
No, not really. It's a totally different industry. I I started in radio, I have a radio background, I talk a lot to, and for, and with people, who are in the broadcast industries. Yes they're related, but not by a whole lot. It's like a really, really, small amount, so if your goal is to get into podcasting or sports broadcasting or anything like that, that's what you want to focus on. You want to go to school for that, get trained for that, and there are broadcasting colleges that do just that. That's all they do, actually, and they are more than happy to teach you the fine art of what it means to be a broadcaster. So I would start there and I would maybe try to incorporate some voiceover into your career later on. I definitely would not suggest trying to tackle both voiceover and podcast or broadcasting endeavors at the same time, that's a little bit much.
Question: So Anthony wants to know if I can list the various types of specs to expect when we get a script.
I assume by specs, you mean direction, and no - because I have seen everything! I have seen it all - direction, and what clients, and producers, and directors ask you to do for an audition, very infinitely, and just when you think you've seen it all, you really, really haven't. Even here lately, we've been - as an industry - I think getting a little bit thrown because we're being asked for things like non binary sounding actors, and things that are non-gender conforming in voiceover. So that's that's kind of a gray area that a lot of us are trying to navigate right now, because it's - we're not sure - like nobody's really sure what that sounds like yet, and how to define it. So unfortunately there's no standard there. Direction can be absolutely anything and everything that any client just thought up on a whim. That's one of the reasons why you take training and you take classes and you work with a coach just to be able to determine how to analyze and how to do something with that direction that you're given.
Question: People want to know why I hate audiobooks so much.
Guys, I don't like working for free or very little. That's honestly the answer. Audiobooks are a huge, huge amount of work for not a big return right now. You know, there are always exceptions to the rule, and there are always jobs that can be in any area or genre of voiceover that might pay more than others, but for the most part, audiobooks take a tremendous amount of time. It can take anywhere from 12 to 36 hours on average to record a book, then you have to basically quadruple that number in order to be able to calculate the time it's going to take you to edit the book and put the book into a presentable form of audio. It is unbelievable how much goes into that. That is of no interest to me. I like my jobs to be short, sweet, and done. I get bored! I have a very short attention span and to be honest with you, I tell myself to shut the up enough as it is! I don't want to hear myself talk that much. No, no, mm mmm.
Hey guys, thanks so much for watching. If you want to be featured on an upcoming Gift of Gab or you just have a question for me that you'd love for me to answer about voice over and your voiceover career, send it over, I'm happy to do it. You can email me at gabby@voiceovervixen.com or shoot me a message on one of the socials. Thanks so much for watching, we'll see you next time.
704-674-8294 / GabrielleNistico.com / gabby@voiceovervixen.com
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